Saddle Up! Pioneering to other grids. New frontiers await.

New title, new grid, new experiences.

With the recent announcement of a 64% tier hike in there light use Sim product from Linden Lab the company that owns and runs Second Life, many residents have started looking to "Frontier Grids". Mostly looked at as developing Second Life clone, where granted these grids are currently based from open source code released by Linden Lab, some of these frontiers are looking to build on the technology pioneered by Linden Lab with eyes toward creating something better.

My partner and I along with a friend from SL also started looking at these frontier alternatives, we finally settled on OpenLife Grid, I am sure as it grows into its own it will get a new name, started a year ago by 3DX. This is a small development company started in Australia and now based out of Taiwan but with the recent boom, nearly 12,000 estimated new user in the few weeks since the Linden Lab announcement, it is growing. We had many reason for settling with OLG over others, it is still very much a beta, bugs are common though this is true for OpenLifes parrent grid Second Life.

Going in we were very impressed with the developement crew, the founder is often in world or on the website chat channel and rarely seems to sleep. Neither he or the viewer developer are shy about answering questions about the grid and even giving technical answers to the questions. We were also impressed with how quickly they responded to the population explosion and the strains it put on their fledgling grid as it saw 1000 to 3000 new registers a day, though at one point logins were near imposible in week 1 of the population explosion and have become progressively better since then. The land is cheap to and allows 4 times the prims (A prim being the basic building blocks of these grids that can be manipulated and linked to create objects.), $22o USD to set up a private cluster with 1 region to Second Lifes cost of $1000 USD for there equivilent, and $75 USD to maintain with Second Life charging 4 times that amount, making it more attractive to invest in virtual property. And a vision of a future that is not just becoming a clone of its parrent grid, but implimenting new and different technologies to make it work, this work is already started and ingrained in the developement teams thinking. On top of that the other users are very open and personable.

There are draw backs though, during the flood delivery of land orders were taking 5 to 6 times longers to complete and deliver, still on par with Second Life, however initial promises of quicker deliveries left some of us a little fustrated. The implimentation of the LSL scripting engine is only 75% complete, permissions (The method by whice inworld objects distributation and modification can be controlled.) are still being worked on. And till the developers are certain that users Intelectual Property is safe as it can be, they are holding back the implementation of inworld currency and economy. Permissions and an economy are what drive a large bulk of smaller scale content creation. It does not however seem to hurt building of environments and structures as much, the bulk of these creators build these themselves.

In the end the move from Second Life to OpenLife feels much like moving from a large developed expensive metropolis where everything is close at hand to a small boom town where everyone knows everyone and are very welcoming, cost of living is cheap, but one would have to be prepared to work a little harder get those comforts that were at your fingertips. Personally like RL I really enjoy the small town feel more than the urban metropolis feeling of everyone for themselves. Sadly to many seem to judge OpenLife by what it is, not by what it aims to be. Time will tell if 3DX can pull it off, but they seem very promising.

I turn a year older! And recieve a surprise party in SL.

The last weekend July I turned yet another year older, RL it passed without fanfare or with token words but this was different in my Second Life. My partner Noxluna arranged a surprise party for me at our little club, she DJed the party and our best friend Tya hosted for her and profided some of the decorations. I had lots of fun and it was the best birthday I have had in a very long time, it was nice to feel that my birthday was more that a token commercial event to some one. A fair group of friends, Daevina and Azrael who I have known way back to my GuildWars days, Katieh, Nawlins, Ise, Quin, and Joy a young woman who Nox and I have adopted as our SL daughter. It was great and I do hope to have many more special birthdays.

Noxluna grows a year older, celebrates with those in her SLife.

Today my partner Noxluna turned another year older, and celebrated it with her friends and me in Second Life. We held the party in our little club The Moody Dragon were many of our friends old and new and even some of her DJ Groupies gathered to celebrate. Among them Shelly, Nawlins, Antya and her partner Misfit, Sicily, Mop, Mudge and Joy to name a few. An old friend Noxluna had taking a DJing class with Darrian DJed the party with his partner at his side. In the end Noxluna enjoyed the party proclaiming it her best birthday ever which made me happy beyond words. Everyone had a great time, the music was excellent and eclectic. I do hope to spend may more birthdays with her and hope this one does not remain her best.

A happy Rez-day!

Yesterday was my first "Rez-Day" in Second Life, the marking of my first year in SL. Often these are celebrated as a virtual birthday, a gathering of friends and virtual family, it is not uncommon for residents to adopt other residents into a family grouping. For my Rez-day my partner Noxluna arranged a surprise party at our virtual home, waking up to find balloons arranged around our home, thought it was a nice reminder that she had not forgotten. We spent much of the day in our home together, relaxing, especially as I was not feeling well, and I for one enjoying that we had no worries of having to run off to some function related to our SL careers, she had already informed the manager at one virtual club we work at that we would not be able to attend.

The party started about Noon Pacific/SL Time, and lasted till about 6:00PM as our friends live all across North America, Europe and even Australia. Among the first arrivals were Blynn who I have known almost as long as I have been in SL and has been my neighbor in SL for as long as I owned virtual property. Katieh who I met when I first visited the virtual club she was working at as a host, Loraine who who we first met while we all worked at my best SL friends short lived club Palisade, and Sherry who we also met there. Also among the first attendees were Kip one of Noxluna's most loyal DJ goupies as well as a good friend, Wayne who owns one of the clubs Noxluna works and an all around good guy, Jerzy and his partner Goldie who are friends of Noxluna's, and Antya one of Nox's longtime best friends. Toward the end or the first wave Bobo and Pyewicket arrived, a pair of real characters and great designers of womans dresses and costumes, and great friends all around.

Most if the first wave left about 3:30 or 4:00 and the second about 5:30 or close to 5:00, Jerzy and Goldie were nice enough to stay and keep us company between them. With the second wave Cydni another one of Noxluna's first SL friends, Nawlins one of my best SL friends that has helped me though some rough times and Sepiroth her man for lacking of a better description, Serenity, Isetine and Quin all who we met at Palisade as well.

We all had a great time, talking dancing, enjoying each others company and bringing groups of friends together. I missed having Ness, Nairda and Rayne there, among other friends, but heard from Ness today. She apologized for missing it do to Real Life work obligations which of course should come first. Though I would like to thank all those friends that did attend if they read this, It was one of my best times in SL, and I thank you all! It was a great Rez-Day and an example of how Second Life can bring people from all over the world together in a 3D Environment without competition.

A journeys beginning.

Many people do not seem to understand Second Life, what it is, what one can do there, and what really goes on. Some people do not understand because of lack of knowledge, other because what knowledge they have gained is from sensationalized reports by press that fall into the first category and stumble across the "Underground" that most of us simply can not condone. I will be honest, SL (Second Life) is really not something you can fully explain, it really needs to be experienced, though not taken to seriously. I started into the world intrigued by the very notion of a 3D virtual environment created by its users called "Residents", where a resident is in certain terms only limited by their imagination.

I was not terribly outgoing when I first joined SL, I was still grieving the loss of a woman I cared very deeply for, and I was easily described as dark, dour and broody, and rightfully so. I began meeting people making acquaintances who would later as I grew and began to heal would become friends. I came to SL as a representation of myself, and so the darkness I felt was mirrored in my avatar, and remained for quite some time even as the avatar was refined and lost its cartoony appearance. Eventually I was introduced to a place called The Pier, though my dark appearance seemed out of place, I made several good friend there even if my dark, broody quiet nature scared them a little at first. I began to feel comfortable sharing elements of my "First Life" with and my loss, they were kind and caring and my best friends in SL to this day. With their guidance and support I was able to start to heal, or at least lay the foundation. It was also there that I found my calling as a SL DJ and found my heart and soul in Vocal Goth music, with this start was able to expand to a larger world.

I would not have thought I would do anything that would put myself as the center of attention, I was always the type to be off in my own corner at parties, but I did so at first more as tackling a technical problem, something I enjoy. DJing lead me to something else I had never intended coming to Second Life. I met Noxluna at a time where I was still dark, dour and broody, but I had began to loosen up. Since November 2007 we have been together, she has been the greatest influence in my healing, she taught me to love myself again, and partnered almost 4 months later in February 2008, though think and thin, and all the challenges in between we have been at each others side ever since. Our feeling are true though we can not bring our relationship across the virtual boundaries as others have, and we express them daily.

Second Life is not a mere game to everyone, nor is it a mere fantasy land for all. For some its a place of business, for others it is a place where they find love, some come together outside of Second Life, others can not cross that boundary for any number of reasons. There are live singers that perform regularly that have the most amazing voices, clubs in all themes and with all genres of music. It's not an orgy pit, though cyber sex does occur in its proper places, there is so much more to it. Yes there are some activities that consentingly occur that I do not agree with, and there are those elements who would try to use SL in an illegal manner as sometime published in sensationalized articles, but the bad is so much out weighed by the good.